The paper looks at initiatives taken by the Mexican Employers’ Confederation (COPARMEX)
aimed at promoting collaboration among civil society associations around the issue of public
safety. Insecurity in the form of robbery, assault and kidnapping causes huge losses to business in
Mexico. It is argued that business leaders are seeking to create consensus and form alliances
among civil society around the topic of insecurity, both to combat crime but also as a strategy to
strengthen links with civil society and improve the image of business, which has suffered due to the
increasing resonance of anti-capital and anti-globalisation discourses in the region.